Community is at the heart of early childhood education. We rely on our classroom community to connect with one other, to create positive learning environments, to enrich programming, to build and foster strong relationships, and to deepen our understanding of identity and cultural knowledge. By building community in our Kindergarten, students take risks and persevere when faced with a challenge.
Continue reading A Kindergarten Classroom in a Global Pandemic?
The 2020-21 school year has been like no other for all faculty, students, staff, and administrators across the country. Continue reading Facilitating Early Childhood Collaborative Play Under COVID-19
In September, I decided that I was fully going to commit to having my students keep a year long portfolio. Continue reading Modeling the Work
As I continue to work on my tenure self-study project, I reflect on my journey so far and think about where I’m headed. Continue reading Play as a Point of Entry for Learning
As I begin my eighth year at LREI, I realize that I’ve been thinking a lot the past few years about play. Last year, I came across Global School Play Day. Elena encouraged me to share this event with the Lower School and we had several classes participate. It was a lovely day for my class. The children engaged in decision-making, turn-taking, sharing, compromise, and practiced social skills such as initiating play and joining play all day long. I’m excited to participate in Global School Play Day again this year and hope many of my colleagues across all three divisions do as well. Continue reading The Role of Nature and Play in School
My focus for my self study will be to commit myself to a year long portfolio with my students. Sometimes they will choose work based on where they are in the process of their work. Sometimes it will be work that I have assigned them. There will be times where I challenge the students to think about specific ideas. (What was something challenging? Something I have improved in. Something I still need to work on.) Continue reading Portfolios as Windows and Mirror for Learning
I’m thinking a lot these days about a recurring project my son did in kindergarten. Every month, they drew a new self-portrait. With a small hand mirror and colored pencils in front of him, my son paused, observed, and drew what he saw. The drawings became more detailed over time, capturing things like skin tone, expression, clothing, and when looked at together they tell a kind of narrative: who my son was at a particular moment and who he was becoming, over time. Continue reading Self Portraits of an English Teacher
The current LREI strategic plan states a s goal the need to:
Continue reading Service Learning Lab: Creating the Roadmap for a 14-Year Plan
This post originally appeared on The Theological Engineer blog.
I ended the school year with a surprising burst of energy after the students left for the summer. I slogged my way through two straight days of comment-writing. Continue reading Math as Witness: who counts? and who doesn’t?
The news ruined my curriculum planning.
My plan was to continue our medieval Humanities studies by learning more about Feudalism and Christianity in Europe for the remainder of the second quarter. Then, after Winter Break, we would dive in to the origins of Islam and study the Middle East. But the news of the bombings in France could not be ignored. Continue reading Global Shift
The middle school is out this week. Everyone. While it is eerily quiet in the building, there is a constant stream of photos posting to the middle school trips twitter page attesting to the rich experiences and full days of the students in each grade. Continue reading Why Go Out?
This summer I travelled to Cuba with a group of educators and fellow leaders of school groups abroad. Eight of us were Spanish teachers and we had a great time immersing ourselves in the culture.
Dear Colleagues,
Consider this as an open letter from our newest colleagues to those of us returning for the beginning of a new season of learning at LREI. In a short ideation session, new faculty identified essential elements of our progressive purpose, stated goals for “being” at LREI and uncovered some questions for which they will look to you for support and guidance.
For the past couple of weeks our third graders have been working on saving New York City. They have been tasked with creating a blueprint for Manhattan that will stop the decay and destruction that has been causing plant and animal life to die at alarming rates. This blueprint encompasses plans for future housing, transportation, food sources, education, religion, government, health, community life, and the natural environment. Continue reading Third Graders Save New York City: Is it Real or Not Real?
